Here are some areas to watch during the 15 practice sessions leading up to the April 11 spring game:

-- Cornerback is the biggest question mark following the graduation of starters Zach McMillian and Thomas Bates. There should be plenty of competition with backups William Jackson and Turon Walker returning and addition of transfers Lee Hightower (Boise State) and Tyler White (Utah).

-- Trevon Randle, an LSU transfer who sat out last season for an undisclosed reason, will move from linebacker and work at rush defensive end this spring. Eric Eiland, who played rush end sparingly because of a muscle strain last season, will move to his natural spot at safety.

-- Even with all but three starters back on offense, coach Tony Levine said the Cougars won't "make any assumptions" and plans to reinstall schemes and packages. That includes some of the new wrinkles UH began to introduce during bowl preparation in December under new offensive coordinator Travis Bush.

"We're going to work on tempo," Levine said. "You'll see that we'll have the ability to slow it down if we need to. You'll see a dramatic change when we increase our tempo from what you saw last season."

-- The Cougars will look for quarterback John O'Korn to take the next step after gaining valuable experience with 11 starts as a true freshman. The focus with O'Korn will be working how he responds to certain situations, whether down and distance or two-minute offense.

"When you're a quarterback, regardless of offense, you have to be like a coach on the field," Levine said.

-- Carter Wall, who is expected to compete for playing time on the offensive line, will be sidelined until April with a foot injury. Wall, a transfer from Navarro Junior College, will give the Cougars some options with his versatility to play center, guard or tackle.